Above, one of the very few media outlets reporting the no media access for the new PM yesterday and below one of the many reporting the moderated access for the FM, on 29 January 2026:
By Liz S
Talking of Anas and his U turns, as in his seemingly conflicting opinions , opinions that are dependent on who they can most damage and who they can most protect.
In June of this year the BBC reported this on their website:
“Holyrood restricts media access to politicians after FMQs”
“A row has broken out at Holyrood after it was announced journalists will have restricted access to politicians after First Minister’s Questions“.
“Scottish parliament officials set out a designated area for journalists on Thursday ahead of the opposition party leaders’ questions to John Swinney”.
This BBC article also had a quote from Anas Sarwar that stated this:
“Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said: “The freedom of the press, for you guys to come and ask us difficult questions, it makes it uncomfortable for us sometimes, but that is a fundamental part of our democracy.”
Really ?
So why then when Andy Burnham was in Scotland yesterday was this reported by the Editor of The National newspaper:
“Andy Burnham is in Scotland today for the first time since becoming PM . Just like we have seen with the UK Gov time and time again, Scottish media has been blocked from access. No change there”
“He’s refusing to speak to speak to any Scottish print media claiming to be too short on time “.
“Meanwhile the new Energy Secretary, Miatta Fahnbulleh, is also in Scotland. Also refusing to speak to the media about Scottish priorities.”
Today neither the BBC website nor yesterday’s snubbed (so called) ‘Scottish’ print media (other than The National) have chosen to headline on their front pages that both the new PM and also his new Energy Secretary, Miatta Fanhnbulleh, had both refused to speak to the (so called) ‘Scottish’ media while in Scotland.
The media, including the BBC were instead more focused on communicating that Swinney was ‘telt’ there was to be no second Referendum by Burnham, or as The (so called) ‘Scottish’ Daily Express wrote on their front page:
“Swinney’s gloom deepens as PM calls the shots”. (in respect to a second independence referendum being “Off limits”).
Then also on the front page of The P & J was this headline:
“Fahnbulleh trip to city lifts hopes of positive talks” (just not “talks” with The P & J nor with any other media within Scotland it seems, that is while on her first visit to Scotland in her new job as the Energy secretary).
No doubt Anas Sarwar will choose not to repeat what he said before in June of this year , in relation to the story on ” Holyrood restricts media access to politicians after FMQs”.
As if Sarwar was now asked his opinion on Burnham and Fahnbulleh “blocking access to the media in Scotland” on their first visit here since becoming PM and Energy Secretary , Sarwar would , I am sure, now offer (yet another) conflicting opinion.
That is he would not seem so (supposedly) willing to reiterate that in his (supposed former) opinion , being “asked difficult Q’s” by the “press” was “a fundamental part of our democracy.”.
However it seems to be that in Sarwar’s UK it is only (pro) UK politicians, including UK PM’s and UK government Ministers, who were those who were to be seemingly exempt from having to experience “difficult Q’s” by the “press” while in Scotland.
Different rules for Labour (and other pro UK parties) compared to what the SNP are expected to tolerate and endure from all media in the UK State.
Liz S
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I’m certain that the Brit Nat colonial mejah and politicians think that :-
Rules are for fools, and don’t apply to them.
Only to the Colonies (territories).
gavinochiltree
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This Morning ITV,Having listened to part of the discussion regarding AB and moving things to the NORTH ie Manchester why dont they say as it is they are speaking about England not the north of the UK it happens all the time,also who the h**l does their precious Andy have the power to block a referendum for my country.
Come on all independence groups get together and just tell Westminster to we will disolve this so called precious union.
Rant over.
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( I added, by mistake, this below comment onto another previous post on TUS , I meant to add it onto this one, so will do that now).
The Sunday Mail (falsely) headlined this last Sunday:
“Burnham: I’ll deliver for Scotland”.
So what has he, so far, “delivered” ?
Well he has given a peerage and also a role in his UK government to someone who, as the (alleged) leader of Labour in Scotland, (badly) lost the Scottish election for Labour in Scotland in May of this year.
He has also kept on the same SOS against Scotland even after revelations in June 2026 that this same individual, Douglas Alexander, was said to have “broken the ministerial code by not declaring a meeting with Peter Mandelson’s lobbying agency“ that is when he, Alexander, was formerly a Trade Minister in 2024.
(Alexander ” faced no further action” even though UK law requires ministers to report meetings with lobbyists every three months”.
Keir Starmer just stated that it was to be regarded as a “regrettable administrative oversight” rather than a breach of the ministerial code – it was also reported that in messages just after the 2024 general election, Alexander appeared to have “credited Lord Mandelson with his return to parliament as MP for Lothian East, referencing support over several years“).
Now we also are told that Burnham has given a promotion to the former Better Together chief, Blair McDougall , as he has been given a new ministerial role in Burnham’s UK Government.
Then to top it all we also have, like Sarwar , yet another Labour reject, Margaret Curran, being awarded a new role by Burnham ( Starmer awarded a peerage to her last year, January 2025, long after her constituents rejected her in 2015) .
Burnham has now made Curran a Minister of State in the department for Energy Security and Net zero.
The Nuclear Industry association posted this on ‘X’ yesterday:
“Congratulations Baroness Curran @Margaret_Curran. We look forward to a close working relationship to drive forward the UK nuclear programme”.
( A “close working relationship to drive forward the UK nuclear programme” , do they perhaps mean like her trying to impose Nuclear projects upon Scotland as part of her colonial remit , in her new ‘job’ working for an English PM within an English government).
So Burnham and his latest House Jock appointments to his UK government, is not him delivering FOR Scotland but it is him delivering TO Scotland the absolute worse possible people whose only remit and concern is delivering for themselves , their own party, Labour, and then first and foremost also FOR England (only).
So with Burnham as the new UK PM it’s not really just a case of the new boss being just the same as old boss, but it’s more a case of the new boss being seemingly far far worse than the old boss. (for Scotland and I also suspect for elsewhere within the UK State too).
Not forgetting also Burnham’s command that we , in Scotland, are not allowed to mention , in his presence, any talk of us having another Independence Referendum, in what is now without doubt a non United and unequal Kingdom, that is not and never will be a supposed ‘Union’).
Liz S
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Didn’t know this until reading https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Government_of_the_United_Kingdom#Ministers_and_departments but Wikipedia clearly states “In theory, a government minister does not have to be a member of either House of Parliament. In practice, however, the convention is that…”. The underlying citation confirms: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/SN05226/. Also see https://talkingupscotlandtwo.com/2026/07/19/what-the-media-in-scotland-wont-tell-you-about-the-obscene-pay-of-english-water-bosses-for-water-that-causes-sepsis-and-kidney-failure/ about the highest paid civil servant in the UK twenty years ago. It just confirms the gravy train!
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